Remotely adjustable, anti-glare vehicle mirror system with driver identification

ABSTRACT

This single-actuator-and-cam, remotely adjustable, exterior vehicle rear-view mirror provides the driver with glare-free viewing toward the rear of the vehicle, by switching between a high-reflectivity position and a low-reflectivity position at the same view adjustment. The exterior rear-view mirrors are repositioned with only a single motor working with a rotary cam to scan all possible mirror positions. The single-motor mechanism increases the reliability of the mirror system. The single motor accomplishes both the directional alignment and the day/night reflectivity adjustment of the mirror by use of a cam which has positions for all predicted view positions, with two reflectivity positions for each view. This invention works equally well with flat wedge mirrors and wide-angle convex wedge mirrors. Since each position is unique, each directional/reflectivity position can be assigned a set of digital coordinates which can be stored for each vehicle driver and each glare condition, for an initial setting which can be easily, or even automatically, adjusted for changes as the driver desires. Customizing features include manual and vehicle driver identification controlled override, start-up reset, and glare threshold setting.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

This invention was not made pursuant to any federally sponsored researchor development.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a Division of U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,870 issuedOct. 19, 1999, REMOTELY ADJUSTABLE, ANTI-GLARE VEHICLE MIRROR SYSTEMCONSTRUCTION, Jain et al. (application Ser. No. 08/932,687, filed Sep.18, 1997).

REFERENCE TO A "MICROFICHE APPENDIX"

There is no "Microfiche appendix."

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

This invention relates to vehicle mirrors, and more particularly relatesto an integrated, simplified system of vehicle mirrors, each havingdriver-operated adjustments of a single motor for remote, multi-axisdirectional alignment as well as for remote glare reduction withoutchange of directional alignment.

(2) Description of Related Art

In numerous situations for drivers of vehicles, the reduction of glaredue to reflections of incoming light from various sources is animportant safety consideration. The internal rear-view mirror in mostvehicles has a dual position feature for day/night setting. The glare iscaused by light entering the vehicle from the rear, being reflected fromone or more mirrors provided for viewing the rear scene, and thenentering the driver's eyes. Such glare causes eye discomfort to thedriver, makes it difficult for him to ascertain the overall drivingscene, and thus creates a potentially hazardous driving environment.Most frequently, the undesirable glare results from headlights of othervehicles that are behind the viewing driver, particularly if theheadlights of the following vehicle are set at "high-beam." On otheroccasions, light from the sun may cause the unwanted glare, particularlysoon after sunrise or before sunset when the sun's rays are nearlyhorizontal.

The human eye readily adapts to bright lights during the daytime. Theiris constricts and the light intensity is attenuated. In the daytime,the constricted iris allows only a tiny amount of light through thepupil, and minor changes of light intensity are not noticeable. At nightthe iris opens to allow the maximum amount of light into the eye throughthe enlarged pupil, and consequently, the eye is extremely sensitive tobright lights. Besides causing discomfort to the driver, anothervehicle's high beam lights reflected in a rear-view mirror can causemomentary blindness as the eye adjusts to the bright light.

It is desirable that the rear view be presented to the drivercontinuously in at least two mirrors, and preferably in three mirrors.However, many drivers, in order to prevent unwanted glare from blindingthem, rely solely upon the inside mirror (which has glare-reductioncapability), and do not use the side mirrors (which do not have glarereduction capability), thereby handicapping visibility. In a typicalsituation, light beams from the headlights of vehicles behind the driverenter his eyes after reflections from a rear-view mirror mounted insidehis vehicle near the top-center of the front windshield, from aleft-side rear-view mirror mounted outside the vehicle, and frequentlyalso from a right-side rear-view mirror. For directional alignment, theinside-mounted mirror is adjusted manually, and in modern vehicles has aday/night feature. For directional alignment of the externally mountedmirrors, most vehicles provide remotely operated adjustment mechanismsmounted inside the vehicle. Whether these mirrors are adjusted by remotecontrol or by hand the driver will usually adjust the directionalsetting to obtain the best rear-view. The driver is forced to accept theglaring reflections from the left-side and right-side rear-view mirrors,since such mirrors do not have a day/night feature.

Currently no vehicle provides a left- (or right-) side rear-view mirrorwith a driver-controlled remote day/night reflectivity-adjustmentfeature. One luxury automobile offers a chemical glare-reduction featuresimilar to automatic sunglasses, but this is expensive and tooslow-acting to eliminate momentary glare effectively during nightdriving. Further, it lacks the critically important manual overridecontrol for the driver. There is an important need to develop andprovide convenient, safe, and economical mirrors for automobiles thatreduce glare from all reflections. K. Jain, one of the named inventors,has provided such human factors in side mirrors having a remote high/lowreflectivity adjustment, as well as a remote directional alignmentmechanism, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,246, issued Sep. 12, 1995.

Mirrors that provide two different reflectivities are commonly used inroad vehicles. Such mirrors operate on the same basic principle: theyall use a wedge mirror to control the number and strength of reflectionsas a function of the angular position of the mirror. Thereflectivity-adjustment feature for the inside-mounted rear-view mirrortypically employs a wedge mirror, silvered on one side. The mirror ismounted so that its unsilvered side first receives the incident lightbeam. The high/low reflectivity adjustment consists of a mechanicallever that turns the wedge mirror by an appropriate angle (approximately4°) so that the incident beam travels either a short single-reflectionpath through the glass or a longer triple-reflection path through theglass to the driver's eyes. The turning angle is such that, in thesingle-reflection position, light traveling to the mirror enters thewedged glass plate, is reflected by the silvered rear surface, exits theglass plate, and reaches the driver's eyes; whereas in thetriple-reflection position, the beam reflected from the rear-surface isreflected partially back from the front surface of the glass plate backto the rear surface, where it is again reflected, a second time, fromthe rear surface. The light, thrice reflected, exits the glass plate,and reaches the driver's eyes greatly diminished in intensity as aresult of the much lower reflectivity of the unsilvered surface.

The functionality of the right-side exterior mirror is slightlydifferent from the left-side exterior mirror. The left-side mirror is aflat mirror and provides unit magnification, as required by federalvehicle safety standards. In contrast, in a majority of automobiles, theright-side exterior rear-view mirror is a convex mirror. A convex mirroris provided to increase the angular field of view (albeit by less than1:1 magnification, which makes following vehicles appear farther awaythan they are). Although increasing the view field of the driver, such aconvex mirror, like the flat left-side mirror, reflects other drivers'headlights into the driver's eyes at night without attenuating theintensity of the beam, producing a hazardous glare situation. Thus, theproblem of bright lights in the side view mirrors requires, as asolution, a day/night reflectivity control, for both left and rightmirrors, which does not alter the view adjustment and is convenient,safe, and economical.

In the cited prior-art patent by one of the co-inventors, control ofeach outside mirror involves four motors--three for angular viewadjustment and one for day/night reflectivity toggling. A secondconfiguration of the prior art replaces the fourth motor with asolenoid. Also described is mirror control using three motors--in whichthe day/night motor (or solenoid) is eliminated, and the fixed shift forday/night change is accomplished by moving the three view angleadjustment motors suitably. Also previously described is a mirror systemhaving only two motors--this is accomplished by having one of the abovethree motors replaced by a ball-and-socket pivot, and programming thetwo motors to provide the appropriate angular shifts in two orthogonaldimensions.

The above-referenced prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,246, by K. Jain,describes a remote controlled, anti-glare vehicle mirror with excellenthuman factors, but does not provide an optimized minimalmechanical/electronic control system. The present invention discloses acomplete remotely adjustable anti-glare vehicle mirror system includingan integrated, user-friendly, minimal mechanical support and controlsystem for each exterior mirror.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an automobile mirror control system includingoptimized, integrated control systems for left-side and right-siderear-view mirrors with viewer-controlled adjustments for glare reductionas well as remote multi-axis directional alignment, using only one motorper mirror.

The object of the invention is to provide a rear-view mirror havingelegantly simple, integrated, remotely operated control means for theadjustment of the reflectivity of the mirror as well as its directionalalignment customized for different specific drivers.

A feature of the invention is a computer controlled rotary cam whichdrives the mirror through its entire range of view positions for bothday and night anti-glare positions.

Another feature of the invention is a cam mechanism which is driven by asingle motor through a complete range of view positions.

A feature of the invention is the provision of a convex portion in themirror which serves as a socket for supporting the mirror and alsoserves as a wide-angle mirror.

A related feature uses a single motor and glare-control cam for acomplete range of view positions with day/night reflectivityselectability at each view position.

Another feature is the placement of position marks on the rotarycam-driver, to provide for individualized view positioning as well asglare repositioning.

An advantage of the invention is its ability to provide glare-free viewsof the rear scene for a driver in all rear-view mirrors operated by anintegrated control system having a single motor for eachremotely-adjustable mirror.

Another advantage of the invention is its ability to provide adjustmentsfor both glare reduction and directional alignment, customized fordifferent drivers, by one remotely operated control system.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following specification and from the annexed drawingsand claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 presents a view of the multifunctional mirror assembly using acam and a single motor, illustrating details of the adjustment mechanismfor directional alignment and reflectivity selection.

FIG. 2 shows the detail of the path traversed by the adjustmentmechanism on the view selection cam. [Note that the cam configurationshown is schematic and is not shown to scale.]

FIG. 3 shows the drive configuration utilizing a reducing gearconfiguration to drive the rotary cam-driver of the motor assembly.

FIG. 4 presents a view of the back side of the mirror to demonstratecomponent placement to achieve directional and alignment adjustmentusing a single motor.

FIG. 5 presents a second embodiment of the invention where directionalalignment and reflectivity selection is accomplished using a sliding,ramped rack and pinion gear and a ball and post assembly which rides ona wedge cam to manipulate the wedge mirror.

FIG. 6 shows a detail of a ramped rack and pinion gear adjustmentmechanism and the wedge mirror.

FIG. 7 shows a detail of a belt and pulley adjustment mechanism toprovide rotation about the y-axis and the wedge mirror.

FIG. 8 presents the system for automatically adjusting the exteriorrear-view mirrors controlled by adjusting the interior rear-view mirror,as well as for implementing driver-personalized prepositioning and otherpositioning and day/night features.

FIG. 9 illustrates a wedge convex mirror and shows the light ray pathsin the day/night reflectivity positions respectively having onereflection and three reflections, and respectively having two and fourpasses through the glass.

FIG. 10 shows a flat mirror with an insert convex portion to serve asboth a socket recess and wide-angle mirror.

FIG. 11 shows a convex mirror with insert region which is more convexthan the rest of the mirror to serve as a socket recess and wide-anglemirror.

FIG. 12 illustrates a wedge mirror with an inset convex portion to serveas a socket recess and wide-angle mirror.

FIG. 13 illustrates a convex wedge mirror with an inset region which ismore convex. Note the wedge shape of the mirror provides a wedge shapeto the additional convex area as well as a wedge shape to the entiremirror. Also shown is the use of the inset as recess for a ball andsocket mount.

FIG. 14 shows a wedge mirror with an additional wide angle convex mirrorattached to it.

FIG. 15 shows a cutaway side-view of the wedge mirror in FIG. 14 showingthe details of the mirrors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows a single-motor-and-cam mechanism to drive a rear-viewmirror through its complete range of view adjustment positions as wellas its complete range of anti-glare positions. Wedge mirror 1, with 2 asits silvered side, is carried by a ball-and-socket pivot 3, which issituated near one end of the mirror. At the diagonally opposite corneris affixed a view/reflectivity selection cam 5. The complete range ofangular adjustments of the mirror is controlled by a motor 9 as follows:the motor 9 turns in response to a signal received from the vehicledriver. As the motor 9 turns, a cam-driver contact 10, attached to therotary cam-driver 7 which rotates with the shaft of the motor 9,traverses the surface 6 of the cam 5, the locus of the point of contactbeing an ellipse 12 as shown in FIG. 2. A suitable set of springs, orother positive loading mechanism 4, ensures that the cam driver contact10 is always in contact with the surface 6 of the cam 5.

The cam surface 6 is designed such that the required range ofview-angles is provided by a full or partial turn of the cam driver 7.Thus, for each position of the motor (i.e., each position of the camdriver contact 10), there is a related angular position of the mirror.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a cam surface 6 designed so that all requiredview angles are provided by traversal of cam driver contact 10 alonghalf (or less) of the ellipse 12; and, the traversal along the otherhalf of the ellipse is such that a fixed day/night angle adjustment ismade to the view angle. The cam surface may be designed such that thevarious day/night view angle adjustments are interspersed with eachother, and not separated on different parts of the cam, since in manysituations a day view position for one vehicle driver may be identicalto a night view position for a different driver.

The side of the rotary cam-driver 7 may have bar-code type markings 8that can be read with a digital reader 11 to determine the exact mirrorposition. The rotary cam-driver 7 may also be positioned using anangular sensor. The rotary cam-driver 7 can be cast of plastic or anysuitable material with an appropriate shaft socket, and as appropriatewith gear teeth on its internal side surface.

FIG. 3 shows a preferred detail of the first embodiment, with reductiongearing to permit most effective use of the characteristic speed andtorque of the single motor. While a single-direction motor will performadequately, a dual-direction motor is preferred because it eases theview adjustment process. The rotary cam-driver 7 is shown being drivenby a reducing gear 15. The internal gear teeth of rotary cam-driver 7can be molded along with the cam driver contact 10 and locator marks 8.The gear 15 can be attached to the rotary cam-driver 7 at the point ofcontact of the cam driver contact 10 with the cam 5.

Since all the angles (including the day/night alternates) can bepredefined and programmed into the motor positions according to camcharacteristics, full functionality of the mirror can be obtained by onemotor and its related cam mechanism. The elevation and view adjustmentsare made in unison during a complete or partial rotation of the camdriver 7. The various settings for day/night adjustment can be stored ina look-up table in the car's microcontroller. Various settings can bestored utilizing bar-code markings 8, as well as the day/nightadjustment position. Note that different cams may be required for theleft and right-side mirrors due to their different viewing angles.

A variation to be considered when the mirror is large or when space islimited is to use a cylindrical cam mounted axially on the motor shaftparallel to the back of the mirror, without any reduction gearing.

FIG. 4 presents a variation of the first embodiment of the invention.The view/reflectivity cam 5, ball pivot 3, stop 13, and loading means 4are arranged as they were in the first embodiment. The day/nightactuation is accomplished by the solenoid 16, which is capable of movingthe mirror 1 approximately by four degrees, thereby attenuating thereflection but leaving the view adjustment unchanged.

Second Embodiment

FIGS. 5 through 7 show an alternative configuration that also requiresonly one motor to control the angular adjustment in two directions. InFIG. 5, as the reducing motor 20 turns, the screw thread 23 moves thepost-ball assembly 25 along the y-axis sufficiently to traverse one halfof ramp cam 26. This displacement in y causes the post-ball assembly 25to slide along the ramp cam 26 and tilt the mirror 1 along the z-axis(about the x-axis to adjust the view of the mirror) shown by the doublearrow. The overall motion of the mirror is partially limited by the stop17. The other angular adjustment (orthogonal to the first one to adjustthe elevation of the mirror) is accomplished by means of a rack 21 andpinion 22, shown in detail in FIG. 6. The pinion 22 is attached to theshaft 19 of the reducing motor 20 such that both turn at the same rate(i.e. they behave as a rigid body). The pinion 22 engages the wedgedrack 21 so that the rack slides on the back of the wedge mirror in atrack, changing the angle about the y-axis. When the driver toggles themirror from the day to night setting, the reducing motor is triggered toturn and the pinion 22 moves the wedged rack 21 to a position thatchanges the orientation of the mirror by the appropriate angle, usuallyfour degrees, to the attenuated position. The pinion gear 22 may becurved where it engages the rack to insure proper contact as the mirrorchanges position. A compressible gasket material between the pinion 22and the rack 21 may also be used to insure proper contact between therack and pinion as the mirror changes position. The motion of thereducing motor 20 also causes the post-ball assembly to progress furtheralong the ramp cam 26. The ramp cam is designed such that the viewadjustments are duplicated on the ramp enabling the post-ball assemblyto move to a corresponding position on the ramp cam, leaving thedriver's view unchanged, while the wedged rack repositions the mirror tothe attenuated position. Similarly, the wedged rack is designed tomaintain the view adjustment after moving to the night position.

FIG. 7 is a variation of this embodiment using a belt and pulleys toreplace the gears of FIGS. 5 and 6. A pulley can be attached to theshaft 19 and equipped with a belt to drive a second pulley 18. Thepulley 18 drives a wedge 27 along the back of the mirror 2 in a track,similar to the manner that pinion gear 22 drives the wedged rack 21 topivot the mirror about the y-axis.

FIG. 8 shows the control path for synchronizing the adjustment of theexterior mirror for high reflectivity and low reflectivity, madeautomatic and synchronized with the day/night adjustment for theinterior mirror. When the driver changes the setting of the interiormirror 30 to either day or night, an electrical signal is sent to acentral microcontroller 33, which is a microprocessor, programmablelogic chip (PLC), or set of relays on the dashboard or other convenientplace, and may be the main electronic control panel for the vehicle.This microcontroller 33 sends signals to the left-side and right-sidemirrors, instructing them to tilt by the appropriate angle, therebybringing these mirrors to the day or night positions, as needed. Ifthere are several different drivers for a particular vehicle, eachdriver can store his/her unique interior mirror and side-view mirrorposition settings in the microcontroller 33. This allows a vehicledriver to recall his/her unique mirror settings every time the vehicleis driven. Precise mirror control is accomplished using digital feedbackfrom the mirror to the microcontroller so the exact mirror location isalways known. We add a reset feature that resets the mirrors to the dayposition whenever the vehicle is shut off and restarted.

A variation of the individual vehicle driver recall is for each vehicledriver to establish an individual glare threshold and set that glarethreshold into the vehicle microcontroller. A set of sensors 38 mountedon an outside mirror provide light intensity readings for forward-view,ambient light, and rear-view, and send these readings to themicrocontroller. The microcontroller compares these readings to theglare threshold set by the individual vehicle driver and automaticallytoggles the mirrors from day to night if the threshold limit isexceeded. We also add a manual override to disable the automaticday/night toggle feature or to individually toggle any one of therear-view mirrors without affecting the other mirrors. We can alsocustomize each driver's ignition key 43 such that when a driver insertshis/her key into the ignition, a signal is sent to the centralmicrocontroller 33, which recognizes the key, and sends the appropriateadjustment signals to the mirrors 30, 36, 37 and also to the driversseat 39, thus automatically adjusting all of them optimally for thatdriver.

It is possible to use any wedge mirror, either flat or convex, in any ofthese embodiments to provide day/night reflectivity adjustment. For theright-side rear-view mirror the solution we provide utilizes a `wedgeconvex` mirror 1, as shown in FIG. 9. All aspects of the day/nightadjustment work in the same way for the convex mirror as for the flatwedge mirror described in prior art. As described in the referencedprior art (U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,246), in the high-reflectivity dayposition the ray 40 entering the driver's eyes comes directly from asingle reflection from the silvered surface 2. In low-reflectivity nightposition, the ray 41 is attenuated by a lossy reflection n3 from theunsilvered front surface of the mirror. The standard flat mirror of FIG.10, with a convex insert 42 for increased field of view, and the convexmirror of FIG. 11, with convex insert 42 are replaced by wedge versionsof the same mirrors illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13. Note that the wedgeprovided for in the main mirror automatically provides an appropriatewedge for the inset region. The convex insert 42 may also be used as amounting location for the ball pivot 3 portrayed in FIG. 13. The basicoperation of the single motor directional view adjustment is the samewhichever type of mirror is used.

Some drivers enhance their right-hand and left-hand mirrors with aconvex mirror 61 affixed to the corner of a flat mirror 62, as shown inFIG. 14. These mirrors, usually used on large vehicles, give the drivera wide angle rear-view in addition to the standard view presented fromthe flat mirror. To make these mirrors day-night, one may simply makeboth mirrors wedges. The convex mirror will appear to be "chopped off"at one end. This can be clearly seen in FIG. 15, the side cut-away viewof the mirror of FIG. 14. This configuration retains the advantages ofthe wide-angle convex mirror while adding the day/night functionality.These mirrors can be controlled with a single motor to present both viewand reflectivity positions to the vehicle driver.

In either of these embodiments there is only one moving actuator toaccomplish the mirror positioning, the motor 9 or 20. One active deviceis used to accomplish both the multi-axis directional alignment (theview-positioning adjustment) and the day/night reflectivity adjustment.This greatly reduces the possible failure modes, since there are feweractive components, and also serves to reduce cost.

While the invention has been detailed in explanations of the embodimentsand illustrated in the figures it will be clear to those skilled in theart that the modifications described as alternatives, may be pursuedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as definedin the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multi-function optical beam reflecting andsteering system, for an exterior vehicle mirror for a vehicle havingalso an interior rear-view mirror, characterized by(a) a wedge mirror(1); (b) angular adjustment means, including a cam means operationallyconnected to said wedge mirror (1), controlled by a reflectivity settingon the vehicle's interior rear-view mirror (30) through a centralmicrocontroller means (33) which provides settings for related viewpositions at the selected reflectivity setting; (c) mounting means (3)affixed to said wedge mirror (1) to provide a limited, variable,rotation to provide a complete range of view positions and reflectivitypositions to said wedge mirror (1); (d) a single motor operationallyconnected to said angular adjustment means to adjust said wedge mirror(1) through a complete range of view positions and at least twodifferent reflectivity positions for each view position; (e) loadingmeans (4) to positively load said wedge mirror (1) such that said cammeans remains in contact with a cam driver operationally connected tosaid motor; and (f) control means (33) for control of said motor tocause movement for view adjustment and reflectivity adjustment.
 2. Asystem of exterior vehicle rear-view mirrors according to claim 1further characterized in thatthe vehicle includes a driver recognitionmeans (43) and said microcontroller means (33) stores information tocontrol multiple mirror positions for each recognized driver.
 3. Asystem of vehicle rear-view mirrors according to claim 1 furthercharacterized in thatsaid control (33) means allows the vehicle driverto individually toggle any mirror from one reflectivity mode to anotheror to override said control to prevent a mirror from changing itsreflectivity mode.
 4. A system of vehicle rear-view mirrors according toclaim 1 further characterized in thatsaid control means (33) acts toreset the mirrors to day mode when the vehicle is turned off andrestarted.
 5. A system of vehicle rear-view mirrors according to claim 1further characterized in thatsaid vehicle has driver identificationmeans operationally connectible to an assigned ignition key for arelated driver, an adjustable driver's seat (39); and control means (33)to adjust the mirrors (36, 37) and the seat (39) as determined by saiddriver identification means responsive to said assigned ignition key(43).